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Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine YimCount Your Blessings!Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll...... Author unknown.

Knowing me, Knowing you..... Aha.....!

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Malaysian Flora USDA Zone 11

Welcome to our exotic world of everlasting summers and tropical rainforests!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Blue Butterfly Flower Clerodendrum ugandense

This is a plant with showy sky blue flowers that look very much like butterflies and it also attracts butterflies.

The flowers occur in loose panicles (clusters) as inflorescenses borne at the ends of long, arching branches. Each flower is about 1" (2.5cm) long and composed of 5 lobed petals, of which 4 are pale blue and 1 violet-blue. There are 6 showy stamens made up of 6 long arching pale blue filaments and dark blue anthers. It blooms continuously throughout summer and fall. In the tropics, it blooms the whole year through. Each flower lasts only a day.

The evergreen leaves are bluish-green, opposite, elliptical and strongly toothed, about 7-10cm long.
I'm sure you can see why the flowers are described as "show-stoppers" and "head-turners".

Grow in moist, well drained soil under full sun to partial shade. It grows vigorously and require little maintenance. Water regularly. Fertilize during growing season. Watch out for aphids attack. Propagation is by softwood cuttings.

This plant is used in landscaping and it is also suitable as container or house plants.

The flowers which are nectar-rich attract a lot of butterflies and carpentar bees, wasps and even the occasional humming birds. They just can't stop loving them.

Clerodendrum ugandense is an upright, open and sprawling shrub that can grow to a height of 10 ft. The branches resemble canes. Some harsh prunning will result in another round of vigorous flowering.

Caution: Handling of plant may cause allergy or skin irritation. Parts are poisonous if ingested. Be careful of bees and wasps which may sting.

Andrea of Andrea In This Lifetime blog is posting a red, medicinal, Clerodendrum intermedium today. Her link is here.

The flower has an awesome beautiful form, as in a graceful "something" i still cannot discern what! But of course you know i have special propensity for blues, e a bit biased. However, when it comes to the form of the plant itself, i am not very appreciative of that bush, but i will surely plant it if available because of the butterflies which frequent them. It is Clerodendrum, while there is also Clerodendron, now i am tempted to post my red Clerodendrum! Are you ready!

What a beautiful flower! I love its color (blue is always my favorite!) and the shape! With butterflies, and bees, even hummingbirds visiting it, this bush is full of life! Gorgeous! Thanks for the post.

Each flower only lasts a day? Does it wilt that fast? What a shame for such a pretty flower. I've never seen this type before and it sure does look like butterfly. Surprise to read that it attracts butterflies.

A very Good morning to you.... n Thx a ton for the dedications Autumn Belle... you have made my day! Stunning snapshots of the blue n white flowers.... too bad we don't get to see them here in Lucknow. Thx for sharing

Hi Autumn Belle, these must be the most beautiful of all the clerodendron varieties. And your photos are such a treat!!

I was very touched by the messages you left on my blog. And for sharing so much...about your parents. I know I'm a little late but I'm catching up on blog posts now. Thank you so much for your love, your thoughts and prayers. All my messages (and yours is treasured) have given me strength. And although I won't be posting regularly, I'd like you to know that you're in my thoughts too.

What a great blog u have here. I definitely will be visiting more often! There are so much to see.

From the front, the flower looks a bit like a butterfly, from the side, it looks to me like a praying mantis.. :) Gorgeous flower by the way! And true, if the tree attracts butterflies, it's garden worthy.

Hi, everyone. Thank you very much for the visits. It is really nice to have your comments and opinions about the plants posted here.

Lotusleaf, Dr. Ng has grown this plant into a tall bush, hence it does flower profusely. Just look again and you can see so very many flower buds everywhere.

RoseBelle, eventhough the flowers lasts only a day, it is replaced by other new ones during the bloom period, so you won't mind.

Kanak, I'm so happy to see you back to blogging again. I look forward to viewing the wonderful flowers and wildlife you have over there.

Note:This flower does attract the butterflies. But it also attracts a lot of big bees too. So, if you have confined garden space and small children, do be careful of the bees. Eventhough the flowers are small, they are really gorgeous to look at. Beauty at a price?

Hi friends, I'm so glad you like this butterfly flower too. I haven't got mine yet as I haven't found any nursery nearby that sells it. I have readers who bought it in Penang. Meanwhile, each time I go to the Secret Garden of 1-U, I'll always say Hi! to this plant ;>)

How amazing...nature replicating itself in flora from fauna ...like the dancing dolphin vine, sail plant, bat plant, egret flower and many others to be named by better than I.I simply love nature...it brings such joy to those who are willing to take what is given for nothing more than the parameters a glance or a bit of maintainence..it is the onlookers or participants choice.

I just bought two of these today, $5 US American dollars each. They have no tags on their plants but I knew what they were. I googled them and found your blog posting about them. I love blue flowers in the garden and look forward to growing these and propagating more from cuttings.

Lorraine, these butterfly flowers are real treasures you've got there. This is not a common plant in Malaysia and nurseries here only sell them once in a while. I too have been looking for this plant until today. Happy 2013!

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